Headlines:
Amp'd Mobile to Offer Obopay Software Ky. Bank Signs Up for Web Cash Manager Tex. Credit Union Joins Co-op ATM Network New 41st Parameter Security Software
Amp'd Mobile to Offer Obopay Software
The wireless telephone carrier Amp'd Mobile Inc. has agreed to distribute Obopay Inc. software to its customers.
Obopay, of Redwood City, Calif., announced the agreement Wednesday. It has a similar deal with Cingular Wireless LLC.
Obopay operates a network that lets people send money to one another from a prepaid account by entering instructions into a mobile phone. Though it can work with standard text messages, Obopay says such transfers are much easier to initiate using specialized software that people must download to their phones; that, however, requires the consent of the carrier.
Amp'd operates on the Verizon Wireless network, but Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group PLC, does not allow its customers to download the Obopay software.
Amp'd will help market Obopay at university campuses in the fall.
Obopay's Web site currently permits only Cingular customers to download the payments software; Amp'd users get a message saying that they will be able to do so in "the coming months."
Ky. Bank Signs Up for Web Cash Manager
Central Bancshares Inc. of Lexington, Ky., hopes to attract new business customers by offering cash management software from P&H Solutions Inc.
The Newton, Mass., payments software vendor said Wednesday that the holding company's $1.6 billion-asset retail banking unit, Central Bank, would use its Web Cash Manager Suite.
Anne Carter, Central Bank's executive vice president of operations, said in P&H's press release that her unit plans to use the software "to expand our penetration of banking services to large and small businesses throughout our markets."
The software will link to the CBS Worldwide core processing system from Fiserv Inc., which was installed this year.
Web Cash Manager has more than 90 application modules, enabling banks to offer a variety of capabilities to business customers of any size. More than 150 financial companies already offer the software to customers.
P&H, formerly Politzer & Haney Inc., is No. 93 on American Banker's FinTech 100 list of the top banking technology vendors.
Tex. Credit Union Joins Co-op ATM Network
Randolph-Brooks Federal Credit Union of Universal City, Tex., has joined Co-op Financial Services' surcharge-free automated teller machine network.
Co-op, of Ontario, Calif., announced the Randolph-Brooks signing Tuesday. The network has almost 2,000 member credit unions, including 137 in Texas, and offers its members access to more than 25,000 ATMs.
Randolph-Brooks was originally founded on Randolph Air Force Base, and still has a large number of military members. It has 22 branches in South Central Texas.
Christopher O'Connor, the credit union's senior vice president of member services, said that its membership is "very mobile" and that "providing surcharge-free access to thousands of ATMs across North America and on overseas military bases makes good business sense."
New 41st Parameter Security Software
The 41st Parameter Inc. has introduced software that can identify specific computers used to visit bank Web sites.
The Scottsdale, Ariz., security vendor announced PCPrint on Monday.
PCPrint is invisible to the consumer. It creates unique profiles of computers from 40 traits that can be observed online, including hardware and network settings. It can also be used with personal digital assistants and other Internet-connected devices.
By examining these details when someone logs in to a bank account, PCPrint can spot suspicious activity.
For example, by checking the computer's time zone against the location in its Internet Protocol address, the software can tell if the IP address has been faked - something many criminals, but few legitimate users, do.
The software gives the bank the ability to intervene and block the login attempt. The 41st Parameter has not announced any customers for the product but says it is in discussions with several banks, online merchants, and government entities.
